HS Softball: North Schuylkill knocks off Pine Grove in Division I clash

North Schuylkill's Lindsay Brouse catches as head coach Jack Flynn hits infield practice prior to Thursday's game against Pine Grove at Dot Seidel Field. (Photo by Bob Lipsky)

FOUNTAIN SPRINGS — It’s barely April, but Pine Grove and North Schuylkill displayed playoff-level softball on a warm Thursday afternoon at Dot Seidel Field.

In a game worthy of a league or district final, the Spartans held off the Cardinals 6-5 in a Schuylkill League Division I showdown. North Schuylkill (5-2, 3-1 D-I) built a 6-1 lead after four innings, then Pine Grove (5-1, 3-1) rallied, coming one hit away from taking the lead in the seventh inning. When Spartans right-hander Brigid Flynn got a fly ball that left fielder Lyza Holmes snagged with a fine running grab, North Schuylkill secured its best win of the season so far.

“It was exciting overall,” North Schuylkill coach Jack Flynn said. “We knew coming into this game — we talked about it for a few days — it was going to be a tough battle. We played them twice last year, and each game went into extra innings. And we split the series last year. We had to have a complete game. We had errors pretty much every game this season so far. We had to have a complete game in the field. Brigid did a fabulous job pitching. She kept the ball moving to different positions. She hit her locations; she had the ball spinning. They hit the ball. It was just an overall great game all around.”

Flynn, who went the distance in the circle, gave her team a quick 1-0 lead when she slammed a solo home run over the center field fence in the bottom of the first inning.

Pine Grove tied the game 1-1 in the third on Hannah Aungst’s RBI double, but a 6-3-5 double play squashed what could have a been a big Pine Grove inning.

Olivia Jones put the Spartans back on top by belting a solo home run to right-center in the bottom of the third.

North Schuylkill then bunched four hits, a walk and an error to score four more runs in the fourth inning for a 6-1 lead. Gianna Capone roped a two-run double, and Jones followed with an RBI single. The other run scored when a relay throw to the plate bounded out of play.

“We have to get them down early,” Jack Flynn said of his team’s gameplan.

“We’ve been working a lot throughout the offseason, throughout the season so far (on our hitting),” the coach added. “We put a lot of work in in the batting cage, off the pitching machine, live pitching. We only had one down game so far with our hitting. They take pride in their hitting. They want to work a lot with that.”

Pine Grove cut the deficit to 6-3 in the fifth inning when Leffler tripled, Aungst followed with an RBI double, and Madison Shiffer laced an RBI single. Again, though, Brigid Flynn avoided the big inning by getting the next three batters out.

North Schuylkill kept threatening, and only some spectacular Pine Grove defense prevented the Spartans from extending their lead in the fifth inning. Leffler, the center fielder, threw out a runner at the plate, and right fielder Addison Zimmerman made a running, twisting, over-the-shoulder catch of a drive to deep right off the bat of Mallorie Croker to end the inning and save at least two runs.

Back at the top of the lineup in the seventh, Leffler lined a leadoff single to center field, and Aungst hit her third double of the day for runners at second and third and nobody out. Brigid Flynn got Shiffer to ground out; Leffler scored, but that’s a trade the Spartans gladly made. Zimmerman singled to put runners at second and third again, and Jamie Dinger rapped an RBI single to left field to make it 6-5. When pinch-runner Nicole Morgan advanced on a wild pitch, the Cardinals again had runners at second and third with one out.

Brigid Flynn didn’t waver, getting an infield popup and the fly ball to Holmes to end the game and strand the potential tying and go-ahead runs.

A big difference in the game was the production North Schuylkill got from the bottom half of its lineup. The Nos. 5-9 batters combined to go 5-for-14 with a double, a home run, four runs scored and four RBIs. Getting contributions throughout the lineup, Brigid Flynn, Lindsay Brouse, Jordanna Frie and Jones had two hits apiece.

For Pine Grove, leadoff batter Leffler went 2-for-3 with a triple and three runs scored, while No. 2 hitter Aungst finished 3-for-3 with three doubles, two runs and two RBIs. Shiffer drove in two runs, and Zimmerman had two hits. Pine Grove’s Nos. 5-9 batters, though, went 3-for-18 with no runs and one RBI.

“A lot of the girls play together with each other in travel ball, so they know each other,” Jack Flynn said. “They were talking about it the last couple days, so it was exciting for both (teams).”

Game Summary

PINE GROVE (5) — Leffler cf 3 3 2 0, Aungst ss 3 2 3 2, Shiffer 1b 4 0 1 2, Zimmerman rf 4 0 2 0, Dinger p-dp 4 0 1 1, Clark dp-p 4 0 1 0, Flynn 2b 4 0 0 0, Bohr c 3 0 1 0, Umbenhauer 3b 3 0 0 0, Morgan lf 0 0 0 0. Totals 32 5 11 5.

NORTH SCHUYLKILL (6) — Selgrade cf 3 0 0 0, Holmes lf 3 0 0 0, Flynn p 3 1 2 1, Brouse c 3 0 2 0, K. Nahodil cr 0 1 0 0, Frie 1b 3 1 2 0, Croker 3b 2 1 0 0, Capone 2b 3 1 1 2, Jones ss 3 1 2 2, Monahan rf 2 0 0 0, Meskunas ph 1 0 0 0. Totals 26 6 9 5.

PG (5-1, 3-1)               001      020   2 — 5

NS (5-2, 3-1)             101      400   x — 6

E — Pine Grove 1, North Schuylkill 1

DP — North Schuylkill 1

LOB — Pine Grove 8, North Schuylkill 3

2B — Aungst 3, Clark, Capone

HR — Flynn, Jones

SB — Aungst, Leffler, Bohr

Pine Grove

                                       IP     H      R       ER    BB    K

Dinger L,2-1            3        2       2         2       0       5

Clark                         3        7       4         3       1        2

North Schuylkill

                  IP     H      R       ER    BB    K

Flynn W,3-1            7       11      5        5       2       3

WP — Clark, Flynn. T — 1:41.